Star Trek:Odyssey 13:Requiem
by rylansato
Summary: The Terran Empire has secretly set up bases on the Ba'ku planet in the Briar Patch. Captain Allensworth and his crew are sent to drive the Imperial forces from their universe.
1. New Assignment

Star Trek: Odyssey: Requiem

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 57921.8: We have just entered the Terran System and headed towards Earth. After finding out that Admiral McKeen had infiltrated Starfleet, she took the role of her counterpart and sent us on a suicide mission that resulted in the death of Lieutenant David Fulks. The Challenger was sent to Earth to capture her. The Admiral is now in custody and at Starfleet Headquarters. It now makes sense why the Terran Empire had attacked Utopia Planitia and not Earth._

"Now entering orbit, sir." Lieutenant Stull said from her post.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Allensworth said.

"Sir," Hoshi said from her station. "We're being hailed from Starfleet Headquarters."

"On screen."

"It was the face of Admiral Ross."

"Admiral, what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Captain, I would like you and your first officer to beam down. I have something I would like to discuss."

"Aye, sir." Allensworth said.

The screen switched off and Sparhawk looked to his captain. "This should be interesting."

"Yes it should be, Commander." Allensworth said getting up.

Sparhawk followed suit and the two of them headed for the turbolift.

"You have the bridge, Commander Merriell."

Shortly later, Allensworth and Sparhawk materialized on the transporter pad of Starfleet Headquarters. The two of them stepped off the pad and headed for the office of Admiral Ross.

Once they entered the office, it was practically instantly that Admiral Ross got to business.

"Have a seat, Gentlemen. You two have done a great job against the Terran Empire. We could've used you during the Dominion War."

"Thank you, Admiral." Allensworth said.

"But right now, things aren't looking too good. We've received reports that the Empire has set up secret bases on the Ba'ku planet in the Briar Patch."

"You're kidding."

"I wish I were. And as of right now you're no longer in command of the Alexandria."

Allensworth's and Sparhawk's eyes widened.

"May I ask 'why', sir?"

"Your new assignment is to land on the Ba'ku planet and eliminate all Imperial forces that are there. Once the assignment is completed, the Alexandria will be given back to you. In fact, it will be the Alexandria that will be dropping you off on the planet and then heading to Starbase Twelve until you contact it."

Allensworth nodded. Allensworth felt as if he were being punished.

"Here is a list of people from your crew that will accompany you on this new assignment."

Admiral Ross gave him a padd that had a list of Alexandria crewmembers on it. Allensworth scanned over the list not having a problem with any of the members so far. All of his senior staff would be going on this mission. Ultimately, the ship would be left with a skeleton crew.

"Sir, I would like to make a suggestion about this list."

"Go ahead."

"It was just recently known that Lieutenant Commander Hoshi Sato is pregnant. I would like to take her and Lieutenant Commander Dustin Zofchak off this list, since he is the father."

"Commander Sato can be taken off the list but Commander Zofchak will stay on it. If I took everyone off this list who were parents, then there wouldn't be much of a list."

"Aye, sir."

Ross stood up from his desk and extended a hand. "Good luck, Gentlemen. I hope to see you when you get back."

The two officers nodded and then headed out the door. As they walked to the transporter room Sparhawk leaned over to his captain. "I'm not much of a fan of this, sir."

"I'm not either, Jason."

"You don't think he's from the other side, do you?" He lightly joked.

"If he were, I think we'd be in bigger trouble."

They entered the transporter room and stood on the pads. The transporter chief pressed a few buttons and then looked at the captain and commander.

"Coordinates are set, sir."

"Energize." Allensworth said.

The Alexandria traveled a maximum warp to the Briar Patch. It was early in the morning of the day they were scheduled to arrive at the Ba'ku planet. Most of the crew, who were assigned to the planet, were preparing themselves for a long assignment.

Hoshi Sato sat in the Captain's ready room at the Captain's request. She sat with her legs crossed and her hands clasped on the table. It looked like she was being interviewed.

"Now, since you're going to be the only senior officer left aboard, you are in command of the ship until the completion of this assignment. There will only be a skeleton crew aboard and the ship will be at Starbase Twelve until we're able to contact you."

"Aye, sir." She said nervously.

Captain Allensworth could see that she was nervous and the thought of command slightly frightened her.

"And don't worry. You'll do fine."

She smiled at the encouragement. "Thank you, sir."

He returned the smile. "Dismissed."

She got up and walked out of the ready room and to the turbolift. Her next destination, Dustin's quarters.

Lieutenant Commander Dustin Zofchak lied peacefully in his bed. Then his door chimed. He ignored it. Then it chimed again. Then he forced himself out of bed.

"If this is not an insanely beautiful woman, I'm setting the ship to self-destruct." He said groggily.

He opened the door to reveal Hoshi on the other side.

_The ship is lucky this time. _

Hoshi walked in and wrapped her arms around Dustin as they shared a kiss.

"And how is the beautiful mother of my twins doing this morning?" He asked.

"I'm good. I just got back from a meeting with the Captain."

"What did he say?"

"He said that I'll be in command of the ship while everyone is away."

"That's good. I'm just glad that Admiral Ross took you off the list."

"He didn't have to. I am a Starfleet officer."

"Yes but a pregnant one at that. We can't be having you going on dangerous assignments while you're pregnant."

"And I don't want the father of our children to be doing the same."

"I agree but I have no choice. I will be back from this mission so don't worry."

Hoshi pulled him in and hugged him tightly. "I don't want you to go." She said on the verge of crying.

"I know." He whispered to her gently. He kissed the top of her head and ran his hand down the back of her head comforting her.

Lieutenant Commander Merriell lied asleep in his quarters. The computer voice kicked on and acted as an alarm. He forced his eyes open.

"Commander Merriell, the time is oh-five hundred."

"Right." He replied.

After a moment, he closed his eyes again. Then a woman's hand reached from the other side of him and shook him softly. It was Michelle Stull.

"Alex, we have to get up." She said.

Alex turned over to his other side and pulled Michelle close to him.

"Are you sure?"

"It's a big day."

"It was a big night. It cleared up a lot of questions."

"Such as?"

"How far those spots go down." He said lightly touching Michelle's Trill markings.

She laughed as she sat up. "We really should get going."

"You're right." Alex said.

They both got dressed and headed for the door. Michelle stopped him before he activated the door sensor.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I want you to promise me that we'll both come back alive."

"Deal." He said.

"Good." She said as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

Shortly later, the senior staff, who were going, stood on the transporter pads. Hoshi stood by the transporter console and the transporter chief.

"Good luck." She said.

"Good luck to you…Captain." Allensworth said.

Even though Hoshi was still at the rank of Lieutenant Commander, she now was in command of the Alexandria. Captain Allensworth had transferred all command codes to her only minutes before. She looked at Dustin and mouth the words "I love you" to him to which he replied mouthing the words "I love you too."

"Energize." Allensworth said.

The transporter chief entered the appropriate commands and they all dematerialized from the Alexandria.


	2. Beginning the Ground Assault

Hoshi Sato walked onto the bridge where only tactical, ops and navigation were manned. There was a small team in sickbay and a team in engineering. Other than that, everyone else was off the ship. She nervously sat down in the Captain's chair. She had taken command for Captain Tucker before but that was only for a short time. This was going to be for awhile and she didn't know when she'd see them again. It could be weeks before this mission would be completed.

"Helm, set a course for Starbase Twelve. Full impulse until we reach the edge of the Briar Patch and then proceed at maximum warp."

"Aye, sir." The navigator said.

Another set of beeping came from Ops. "Sir, there are three ships coming in from the other end of the Briar Patch." Skundrich said from her seat.

"Why do I get the feeling that they are Imperial starships?" Hoshi asked rhetorically. "Identify them."

"ISS Valiant, Defiant class. ISS Sapida, Defiant class. ISS Ra, Akira class."

"Great." Hoshi said sitting down. "Ahead full impulse."

"Aye, sir." Lieutenant Horodyski said.

"Sir, the three ships have altered course and are headed our way."

"Shields up. Red Alert. All hands battle stations."

There weren't many hands to go to battle stations but she still had to call it out to alert the rest of the crew.

The rest of the crew of the Alexandria stood on the Ba'ku planet getting ready for the assault. None of them knew how long this was going to take. It was hoped that it would take a few days but it would probably take weeks for them to get rid off all of the Imperial forces off this planet. Captain Allensworth and Commander Sparhawk stood with a group of other soldiers ready for their first mission.

"They have torpedo cannons along this field with the capability of firing torpedoes into orbit and destroying any ship that is up there." Allensworth said pointing to a map. "There are two guns that we know of here and here, firing near our position. They haven't pinpointed our location yet but if we don't take them out, then they'll figure out where we are. Expect a third and fourth gun here and here. The imperials are in the trenches with access to the entire battery, with a phaser cannon covering the rear. We'll establish a base of fire and move onto their position in squads of three."

"How many imperials are we expecting?" One Lieutenant asked.

"I don't know." Allensworth said. "We'll take some charges despite the torpedo cannons. Zofchak, that'll be your responsibility.

"Aye, sir."

"Merriell, you'll take the first gun with Van Zandt and James. McKenzie, you take the second with Compton and Stull. I'll be with Sparhawk and Lipton and we'll be making the main assault. Let's move out."

The group grabbed their gear and headed out.

The Alexandria was still en route for the edge of the Briar Patch and the three mirror ships were almost on top of her.

"Sir, the ships are locking weapons." Skundrich said.

"Ensign Brazzeal, lock weapons and fire."

Two ends of the phaser array charged and moved towards each other. Once meeting, a phaser beam shot out and struck the shields of one of the Defiant class.

"One enemy ship hit, sir. Moderate damage to their forward shields." Skundrich said.

The other Defiant class ship zoomed past the Alexandria and cut her off.

"We're surrounded, sir."

"Not gonna take me without a fight." Hoshi said quietly. "Mister Brazzeal, fire quantum torpedoes. Dispersal pattern: Sierra."

The Alexandria fired a quantum torpedo that separated into six smaller torpedoes. They struck the shields of the Sapida.

"Horodyski, come about to one four zero mark zero zero seven. Mister Brazzeal, fire phasers."

The Alexandria whipped around and fired phasers that struck the Akira class. The mirror ships fired their main weapons striking the Sovereign class ship. The ship was taking a beating. The tactical console exploded sending Lieutenant Brazzeal to the deck. Hoshi looked back to see a large gash in the side of the lieutenant's neck and his eyes wide open. Even the collar of his uniform was ripped open. Hoshi got up from the command chair, leapt over the first officer's chair and took over the tactical console. She entered the commands to fire weapons.

The Alexandria looked like it was firing frantically but all their phaser beams struck a ship. Hoshi saw a section of the Briar patch that reminded her of a story that Dustin had told her when he was last at the Briar Patch a few years ago. It was called the Riker Maneuver.

"That should be a cloud of Metreon Gas. Use the ram scoops to suck in as much as we can."

The Alexandria entered the cloud and parts of the cloud were being sucked into the front of the warp nacelles.

"Bridge to Engineering, are the ram scoops at full capacity?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now release the gas."

The Alexandria moved in front of their mirror opponents, releasing the gas. The two defiant ships fired into the cloud and the cloud exploded, engulfing both Defiant class ships. Debris from the ships were thrown into the hull of the Akira class, slicing through it, ultimately destroying the ship.

"All three ships destroyed, sir." Skundrich said.

Hoshi let out a sigh. She then smiled. "You think they'll give me my own command for this?"

The two females at the front end of the bridge turned and smiled at their commanding officer.

"Set a course for Starbase Twelve. Best possible speed."


	3. The Frontlines

Allensworth's squad emerged from the bushes and the sound of weapons fire had become louder. They were so close that they could hear the voices of the soldiers manning the guns. They ran along side trees and other bushes to remain hidden from their enemies. Allensworth and Lipton moved up close and were able to get a view of what they were up against. They saw one cannon and a group of troops. Allensworth and Lipton then moved out. They ran along the line of bushes and trees. Ahead of them was Sparhawk on one knee, looking at the Imperial forces from his position. Allensworth ran up and tapped his shoulder. Sparhawk got up and joined the other two. They repositioned themselves behind a much denser brush.

"Three cannons." Allensworth said.

"Photon torpedo launchers." Sparhawk said.

"I'll draw their fire from the right, take two people and head up from the left."

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, go."

Allensworth got up and left Sparhawk with his orders. The captain then proceeded to Zofchak's position. The chief engineer got up from his stance to meet the captain.

"Take Van Zandt and Stull, give covering fire. Don't give away your position until you have to. I want those charges as soon as you see that we've captured the first gun. Okay, go."

Zofchak got up and left. Allensworth looked back to Sparhawk and held up his hand to chest level to give a signal. Everyone moved into position and then Sparhawk returned the signal and then Allensworth gave a thumbs up. He turned around and moved into the bushes. He looked and saw the Imperial forces moving and talking. He looked down to see Ensign Olivia James on her stomach aiming her phaser rifle.

"Go." He said.

James opened fire, catching the Imperials off guard. They returned fire as well. Allensworth aimed his own phaser rifle and began firing.

Sparhawk moved through the bushes with his small group as Zofchak, Van Zandt and Stull climbed into the trees and started firing. It was a fierce volley of phaser fire. The Imperial's phaser fire got more intense causing Allensworth's group to take some cover.

"Come on, Jason." Allensworth said.

Sparhawk and his group they came around some trees and lowered themselves to their stomachs, Sparhawk looked through the bushes and saw how close they were to the Imperial trenches. He moved back up onto his knees. He did some hand movements that consisted of numbers and a throwing action. He, Lipton and Compton reached into their holsters and pulled out a photon grenade. They activated them and then threw them over the bushes and into the trenches. They exploded on impact and Sparhawk and the other two rushed in.

Sparhawk jumped down into the trenches and saw a bloodied imperial reaching for his gun. He aimed his rifle but it jammed. The Imperial was stumbling for his weapon. Compton came up and fired taking out the Imperial but he came under fire. He dodged around for a few seconds before being able to jump down in the trench.

"Let's go, let's go." Allensworth shouted as he began rushing in. "Follow me."

The group followed him to the first gun's trenches as they were being fired upon. They sprinted and fired at the same time before jumping down into the trenches. The Imperials took off running in the opposite direction to regroup elsewhere. They all aimed their phasers and began taking down the Imperial soldiers one by one.

The Imperials in the other trenches popped up and began firing back. Allensworth and his group had to keep their heads down so not to be picked off. Allensworth moved through the trenches shouting orders.

"Merriell, McKenzie, Lipton, clear that gun." He said as he moved through the trench. "Compton, covering fire."

"Yes, sir."

He continued through and saw two Imperials preparing photon grenades. He aimed and fired, taking out both of them before they realized that he was there.

Merriell, McKenzie and Lipton made it to the first gun. They still had to keep their heads down to avoid getting a phaser beam to the head. The beams were just barely missing them. Zofchak saw them from the trees.

"Ready? Move they got the first gun." Zofchak said.

Zofchak and his team jumped down from the trees to head for the gun.

Sparhawk and Allensworth moved through the trenches and came to a covered opening to get a view of the second gun.

"There's the second gun. Photon grenades first then keep going. GO!"

Sparhawk, Allensworth were accompanied by Compton as they charged in. They ducked down as they prepared their photon grenades and once they were ready, Allensworth gave the go ahead nod as the three of them charged in as they threw the grenades at the Imperials. The grenades exploded and whomever the grenades didn't kill were killed by phaser blasts.

One of the imperials stood up with his hands in the air.

"Don't shoot me, don't shoot me. I'm just following orders."

Compton held the barrel of his rifle close to the Imperial's face.

"Shut up. Shut up."

The Imperial kept repeating himself. Finally, Compton couldn't take it anymore and he whacked him unconscious with the butt end of his rifle. The Imperials realized that the Allies took the second gun and they began firing at them.

"Stay down." Allensworth said as he took a knee and fired back. Commander Sparhawk knelt down with him. "They're doing something right. Look. We've got them so confused; they're firing on the third gun."

"We better blow this one before they figure out what the hell is happening." Sparhawk said.

"I'm going to go check where Zofchak is."

Allensworth got up and left.

"Compton, cover the Captain." Sparhawk said.

Merriell and his small group continued firing at the Imperials. Suddenly, Allensworth appeared.

"Where's Zofchak with those charges?" Allensworth asked.

"I don't know, sir." Merriell said firing.

Suddenly, Stull and Van Zandt showed up.

"Sir, I've got some charges." Stull said.

"Lieutenant, shove it in the barrel and blow it."

"Yes, sir."

Lieutenant Stull rigged the barrel of the photon cannon with charges.

"Fire in the hole." She said as they all ducked back behind the gun.

The charges exploded, destroying the barrel.

"McKenzie, covering fire. Stull, Van Zandt, Merriell follow me." Allensworth said.

The group ran through the trenches with their heads down occasionally firing at the Imperials. Finally, they reached the second gun where Sparhawk was holding down the fort.

"Think you can take the third gun?" Allensworth asked.

"We'll soon find out, sir." Sparhawk said. "Merriell, let's go, Compton, cover."

Sparhawk and Merriell got up and took off running for the third gun. As the two officers took off, Allensworth and Stull rigged the second gun to blow.

"Fire in the hole." Allensworth called.

The barrel blew apart just like the previous gun. Allensworth looked back at the aftermath and slightly grinned. That was two down and one to go.

Meanwhile, Sparhawk and Merriell fired into the trenches that housed the third gun. They took down any Imperial that stood in their way. A few took off out of the trenches to get away but were gunned down by Sparhawk and Merriell.

Allensworth looked across the way to see Sparhawk giving him the signal that all was clear. He then proceeded down the trenches to the third gun with the charges that Lieutenant Stull gave him. He rigged the third gun to blow.

"Fire in the hole."

The gun blew apart just as Allensworth ducked down into another room that was dug into the trenches. It was a communications room. He went over to the desk that held all sorts of papers with the symbol of the sword through the Earth on them. He skimmed over them and saw one to be of importance. He shoved the paper into his uniform and then left the room.

McKenzie leaned against the ground firing at the Imperials. Then she heard motion behind her. She looked back to see Zofchak had arrived.

"Did Stull and Van Zandt show up with the charges?" He asked.

"Does that answer your question, sir?" She said pointing to the gun's barrel.

He looked up and nodded with acknowledgement. Knowing that this place was secure, he got up and ran to find Captain Allensworth.

The Captain fired at the Imperials when he heard his name being called from the back. He turned around to see Lieutenant Spiers coming in with about six other troops.

"We figured you might need some help, sir." Spiers said as he fired at the Imperials.

"We appreciate it, Lieutenant."

"Do you mind if we take out the fourth gun, sir?"

"Help yourself."

"Let's go." Spiers said as he and his squad ran through the trenches to the other gun.

Sparhawk knelt to Allensworth's side.

"Who is that? Spiers?" Sparhawk asked.

Allensworth nodded.

Spiers and his group ran through the trenches firing at their opponents. This gauntlet was a bit harder to get through. Spiers lost a few men getting to the gun. Allensworth watched as the Lieutenant threw a photon grenade and after an explosion, Spiers emerged waving his hand to signal that he had succeeded getting there and taking the gun.

Allensworth gave him a thumbs up just as Zofchak appeared.

"Sorry, I'm late, sir. I had to hold off some Terrans to allow Stull and Van Zandt to get here." Zofchak said as he pulled out some charges.

Allensworth tapped him on the shoulder and then pointed at the barrel of the photon gun. Zofchak looked up and was a bit disappointed. But he couldn't expect anything less. It had made his job a bit easier and it looked liked that Stull had done her job well.

"They're going to need it at the next gun."

"Aye, sir." Zofchak said getting up.

Allensworth got up as well only he ran through the other set of trenches. "Compton, Lipton, pull out." He said. The two soldiers stopped firing and moved out. Allensworth continued through the trenches. He patted on the backs of the soldiers. "Move out, move out. We're moving out. Fall back to your original positions."

Everyone stopped firing and got out of the trenches and ran away from the Imperials. Allensworth looked around to make sure everyone was out before he got out of the trenches. He saw a stray Imperial soldier raise his rifle but Allensworth was too quick for him and put to phaser beams into him before the soldier could fire one. The captain then proceeded away from the battle zone as the Imperials continued to fire.

Later on, Captain Allensworth walked with a few soldiers. "We disabled their photon cannons but there are probably still about forty Imperials only with rifles."

"Forty?"

"We killed about twenty or so, so yeah, about forty. Mortars should be able to do the job."

"Yes, sir." The soldier said before running off.

_Captain's Log: Supplemental: By nightfall, the crew had secured the area on the southern peninsula of the main continent of the Ba'ku world. However, the success of this mission was far from over. We have an hour to rest before moving north and secure the town of Kiridani. _

Captain Allensworth moved through the make shift came that the crew of the Alexandria had made. He was eating a sandwich he made from the portable replicator. He was a bit exhausted but he didn't want to sleep because he'd be more tired after an hour nap than he would be if he stayed up.

"Captain."

He turned around to see Commander Sparhawk running up to him.

"You know that map you found? It had every Imperial gun within the next hundred miles on it. I think it will do us some good."

"I think so too."

"Something on your mind, sir?"

The two of them stopped walking.

"I'm just thinking about this mission. I don't know how long we're going to be here. Do you remember the battle at AR-five five eight?"

"Yeah. That was during the Dominion War in the Chin'toka system. Captain Sisko found a group of Starfleet soldiers fighting off Dominion forces for five months and had lost most of their soldiers."

"Yeah, I'm just worried that that will become us. We will become those soldiers on AR-five five eight."

"I don't think it'll come to that, sir. I think Lieutenant Commander Sato will make sure that doesn't happen."

Allensworth nodded. "Yeah, but I don't want to lose most of my troops before we get take back this planet."

Allensworth turned and continued walking. Sparhawk thought about walking with him but decided against it to leave his captain to his own thoughts.

Captain Allensworth walked up a slight hill that overlooked the battle field from earlier. Fires burned making it visible from miles away.

_That night I thanked God for getting me through that day of days and prayed that I and my soldiers would make it through the rest of it. And if I were able to get home after the war and my career, I promised myself that I would find a quiet piece of land somewhere and spend the rest of my life in peace._


	4. Kiridani

The group of Alexandria soldiers moved through the darkness that was lit up by the fires that was left over from photon bombing. They moved as silently as a couple hundred soldiers could. There was the occasional cough and the occasional slap on the face or neck to stop the mosquitoes from biting. There were charred remains of Imperial soldiers. It was almost disturbing to see the remains of a Starfleet officer but these were not their officers. They were soldiers of the Terran Empire. They had to step over some of the bodies that were in their path.

"Don't wake the imp." One said as they stepped over the body. Imp was a bit of a nickname used to classify the Imperialists.

One person stopped and held up the line. Lieutenant Coble stopped along side them.

"What is it?" Coble asked.

"We lost sixth platoon, sir." The young Ensign said.

"Lavena, go back and pass the word to hold up." Coble said.

"Yes, sir." She said.

"Winters, you and Dwight go on up ahead and look for sixth platoon."

"Yes, sir. Come on, Dwight." He said walking off.

The remaining soldiers knelt down and took a knee while waiting to hear back from the two scouts. Captain Allensworth and Commander Sparhawk approached Lieutenant Coble.

"Did you send somebody?" Allensworth asked.

"Yeah, I got Winters and Dwight up there now, sir."

"Why have we stopped?" Sparhawk asked.

"This is about officers forgetting their training, Jay." Allensworth said. "Come on, let's get going."

Meanwhile, Winters and Dwight continued to march through the wooded area. They weren't exactly as silent as they should've been but they were kinda in a hurry to report back to Lieutenant Coble. Suddenly, Winters heard a twig snap nearby and it wasn't him or Dwight. He stopped and put his hand up to signal Dwight to stop. They both knelt down and looked through the darkness.

"Thunder." A voice said.

"Flash." Winters said almost immediately.

A figure appeared from behind the trees. It was Lieutenant Spiers. "Where have you all been?"

Winters turned around. "Dwight, head back and report that we found the sixth platoon."

Dwight stood up and headed back. He marched through the woods on his way back and saw a silhouette next to a tree. He looked more closely and it was an Imperial soldier. Dwight gasped but nothing happened. There was no shooting from either person. Dwight completely froze.

"He's dead, Ensign." A voice said behind him.

He turned around to see Captain Allensworth.

"Did you find the sixth platoon?"

"Yes, sir." Dwight said. He looked back at the dead soldier. "I thought…I thought he had me."

Commander Sparhawk walked up to them from the bushes and approached the body.

"Reports , say there's a division of Imperialists holding Kiridani." Sparhawk said.

"Well that's one less soldier we have to worry about." Allensworth said.

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 57943.1: We're on our way to the town of Kiridani. We've run into only minor resistance on our way and we lost a few members of the crew. I just hope that this doesn't turn into a bloodbath and we lose everyone before Lieutenant Commander Sato returns._

Captain Allensworth peered over the hill to the town of Kiridani. From the looks of things, the town was deserted and there was no Imperial activity. It looked like the typical Ba'ku town that didn't support any use of modern technology. It angered Allensworth that the Terran Empire would use the Ba'ku planet to gain a footing in the Beta Quadrant. Allensworth ducked his head back down to Lieutenant Coble.

"I want you to take the first platoon up the middle hard and fast. We have to move quickly. I'll be right behind you with the second and third."

Coble nodded to his captain. Allensworth peered over the hilltop again. He then backed down and waited a few seconds before giving Coble the order to go.

Coble turned around to the platoon. "Let's go, first." Coble moved forward followed by the first platoon. Allensworth ran down the hill telling the other two platoons to start moving. The platoons ran down hill into the small town. Suddenly, everybody heard the order to fire and it wasn't from their own group.

Phaser beams and bursts erupted from the windows of the buildings in the town. Some soldiers were hit and fell face first into the dirt and others were able to make into the towns borders and behind some cover.

Some of the remaining soldiers that hadn't gone up over the hill yet ducked into the ditches that ran on the sides of the road. Allensworth didn't like that at all. He and the other senior officers yelled over the phaser fire at the officers to get up and get going.

The soldiers did as they were told and ran into the town from all angles. One soldier darted over a fence and behind a building. Another followed but was gunned down. A few more followed and made it behind some cover.

Commander Zofchak made it behind a building and peered around the wall. He looked around the corner a few times and then waited a few seconds before raising his rifle to fire at the Imperials that were hiding in the building. An Ensign came up to him.

"There's one to the right of the…"

Before he could finish his sentence a phaser beam sliced through his torso, dropping him to the ground.

"MEDIC!" Zofchak yelled.

Other soldiers crawled up and pulled him away. Zofchak ducked down and carefully peered around the corner.

Meanwhile Commander Merriell hid behind some cover with some other soldiers as one ran across the way to behind another wall. He pulled a photon grenade out and threw it. The grenade didn't quite make it to the enemy troops but it did land right in front of them. The grenade exploded and it caught Lieutenant Stull off guard as she was behind some cover just on the other side of the building. She jumped back just as the grenade exploded practically in front of her.

"Bloody hell." She said.

Another beam came from no where and nailed the ensign who threw the grenade in the chest. He dropped to the ground dead as Merriell slightly flinched from the unexpected shot. He looked around to see where the shot came from. He poked his head out and saw a sniper posted on a set of stairs. He quickly turned the corner and fired one into the head of the sniper.

He then turned his attention to the ground window of the building that kept firing at the oncoming allied troops. He aimed and took out one of the soldiers in the window. The other turned and fired at Merriell as he ducked behind the wall.

With the Imperial's attention on Merriell, Stull found it to be a great opportunity to go on the offensive. She pulled out a photon grenade and sprinted up to the building. She then threw the grenade into the window and then dropped down below the window just as the grenade exploded.

Nearby, Zofchak, McKenzie and a group of other soldiers were crouched behind a wall.

"McKenzie, clear that sector on the right." Zofchak ordered as they moved from their position.

Zofchak ran towards Lieutenant Stull as McKenzie took a few troops and went to the right. Zofchak ran along side the buildings and Stull joined him.

"We need to clear that warehouse." He said running past Merriell. "Alex, hammer those windows."

Merriell aimed his rifle and fired into the windows.

Meanwhile, more troops were running into the town. They spread across the streets firing into windows. Nycz and Kadohata ran up to both sides of a window. Nycz slammed the butt end of her rifle into the windows, breaking them as Kadohata pulled out a photon grenade and threw it through the opening. They turned away from the window as the grenade blew. They heard someone scream from the explosion. Then Nycz kicked the door open and the two ran in with rifles firing.

McKenzie and Lipton ran up to either side of a window. McKenzie felt that something wasn't entirely right about this particular building. All she had to do was break the window and Lipton was going to toss a grenade in, but she didn't feel that it was right. Going against what she was supposed to do, she kicked the door open and aimed her phaser rifle. It was a good thing she listened to her instincts because cowering in a corner was a Ba'ku family. She couldn't do anything but just stare thinking about what she almost did.

Commander Zofchak carefully trotted up the steps where the sniper was posted. He went to the window and tossed a photon grenade in there that exploded a few seconds later. He didn't hear any screams, meaning that there wasn't anyone in there or that no one was caught by the blast. Suddenly, he heard another sort of blasts. This sounded like it was coming from the air. He looked to the town to see part of a building explode.

"Shit." He said to himself. He ran to the edge of the platform. "THEY GOT US ZEROED. SPREAD IT OUT. SPREAD IT OUT." He took off down the stairs still yelling. "GET OUT OF THERE! GET OUT! GET THE HELL OUT OF THE STREET!"

Sparhawk came around a corner. "Let's move out." He ordered as he and other troops took off running. One of the soldiers carried another on his back as he ran.

Doctor Plumley was tending to a fallen soldier as buildings exploded around her. Another soldier was yelling to another soldier in an upstairs window when he was hit. One of the soldier's legs was blown off. The soldier from the window sprinted down to his side. He picked him up and took off running.

Zofchak continued to make sure people were still getting out. He stood and moved his hands signaling people to hurry up and get out. An Imperial soldier took position and aimed his photon cannon at Zofchak. He fired at him just as he was shot by an Allied soldier. The photon was knocked off course but struck the ground a few feet in front of Zofchak. The explosion sent him flying backwards and he slammed into the wall behind him. Blood leaked from his mouth and he was covered in debris.

"Commander." A voice said. It was Doctor Plumley. She ran up to him and knelt down. He slowly came to his senses as she held his head to make him look at her. "Commander, are you all right?" He looked down because felt some sort of liquid around his leg. She followed his gaze and saw blood on his inner thigh. She ripped open his pants to see where the blood was coming from. There was a piece of shrapnel lodged in his leg but that was all.

"Don't worry, Commander. Everything is where it should be." She said to lighten the mood.

He slightly smirked and nodded.

Another officer ran into a building to make sure it was clear. He moved around aiming his rifle straight ahead. When he was satisfied that the building was clear he moved to head outside. But before he could do that the inside of the building exploded.

More allied troops ran to the building that exploded calling out his name. He emerged from the smoke and pointed his rifle at the movement he saw.

"Whoa, take it easy, Caplin."

"Dupler, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. Come on, you gotta sit down, buddy."

Dupler took Caplin and guided him to the wall. The two sat down together. Caplin's face was completely bloody and burnt and one of his eyes was gone. Dupler held him close as Caplin grasped his friend's arms.

"Easy, buddy. You're going to be all right." Dupler said. He looked down and saw that Caplin's legs were completely messed up and looked like they were almost blown off. Caplin was breathing heavily and coughed up some blood. "Come on, we'll get you fixed up."

The other two soldiers knelt down and helped Dupler pick up Caplin.

Compton, and Coble ran to an upstairs room and saw that some of the Imperials were retreating through a field. They opened the window and then opened fire on the retreating Imperials until there were none left.

Allensworth stood with Sparhawk as the injured were carried out of the town. Sparhawk followed the line of troops as Allensworth looked at his map on the tricorder. Suddenly, shot rang out and struck the ground next to him. The shot sent a piece of debris into Allensworth's leg. He stumbled around dealing with the pain with gritted teeth and labored breathing.

"Damn it." He said.

Later, Allensworth sat on a table as Doctor Plumley pulled the piece of debris out from his shin.

"You only caught part of it." She said.

"So stupid." He muttered to himself.

She looked up at him. "What?"

"Nothing." He replied.

"Do you think you can stay off it for a bit?"

"Doubt it."

"At least try." She said as she sealed the wound.

At that moment, Commander Sparhawk walked in. "What's the plan, sir?"

"Well, we expect a counterattack. Kiridani is important to them as it is to us."

"Any idea when?"

"We're not waiting around to find out."

"We need to head east to the higher grounds to set up a defense position. The flooded fields is the only direction they can approach from.

"You gonna be all right, sir?"

"Yeah." Allensworth smirked.


	5. Outgunned

A few days later, in broad daylight, the crew ran through a flat open field in an eastern part of the main continent. Once out of the field they lined themselves in a deep ditch along side of a road. They stood by and waited for their orders. Ensign Stallworth came running up to Lieutenant McKenzie. Stallworth wasn't a tall man but he was bulky. He looked almost as strong as a Klingon.

"There's some kind of hold up ahead. We're going through this field here." He said.

McKenzie nodded and then gave the signal for the rest of the troops to move out. They all moved through the field and came up to a fence that outlined a Ba'ku village. Suddenly a window opened to and a woman hung a blue sheet as if she was hanging it out to dry. Two officers readied their weapons. McKenzie came up behind them.

"It's okay. Hold your fire." She said.

The crew got closer and came to realize that the Ba'ku village was celebrating the Federation's advances against the Terran Empire. Ba'ku villagers came up and congratulated them. The place was pretty crowded for the size of the village but it was really hard to tell just how many people actually lived there. Lieutenant Commander Zofchak came up to McKenzie.

"Have you seen Captain Allensworth?" He asked.

McKenzie shook her head. "No, sir."

"Keep your squad moving." He said before turning around.

Zofchak realized that he was in the same village he visited a few years ago when he was stationed on the Enterprise. The Enterprise came to figure out why Commander Data had malfunctioned only to stumble across a conspiracy to relocate the Ba'ku and ship them elsewhere so that Starfleet and the Son'a could steal particles from the planet's rings. Suddenly an arm reached out and grabbed him. He turned around and to his surprise it was Anij.

"I remember you."

She still looked the same as she did when he last visited the planet. He was really surprised that she remembered him. At the time he was only a Lieutenant under Geordi LaForge's engineering team.

Captain Allensworth stood with Commander Sparhawk and Lieutenant Commander Merriell. He used a set of binoculars to look to the mountains and surrounding terrain to look for Imperial troops and finding none.

"According to our tricorder scans, the Imperials aren't anywhere near here." The captain said. "We'll keep moving till nightfall and go from there. Let's go."

Allensworth began to move and his officers followed.

The crew continued to march through the small village. Even though the village was small, it seemed like it took forever to pass through all the people.

It had become nightfall and the crew had taken refuge on the outskirts of the village. There were some houses here and there but not enough to call a town. Captain Allensworth had allowed the troops to rest for the evening.

Captain Allensworth walked with Commander Sparhawk and Lieutenant McKenzie. They saw a house with no lights on and decided to approach it. McKenzie pulled out her tricorder to scan the structure.

"I'm not reading any life signs in the house but under the house I'm picking up three."

As soon as she said that, a set of doors opened and a man no older than when Zefram Cochrane conducted his warp flight on April 5th, 2063. The three officers instantly raised their weapons just out of habit and to make sure this person wasn't a threat. The man saw the weapons being pointed at him and he raised his hands.

"Don't shoot." He said. "I'm just a farmer."

The three officers lowered their weapons and holstered them. The man lowered his hands when the weapons were put away.

"My family and I have been hiding down there ever since we found out that the Terran Empire had invaded the planet."

"I am Captain Jermaine Allensworth. I'm leading the assault against the Empire. This is my first officer, Commander Jason Sparhawk and my Chief of Security, Lieutenant Julia McKenzie."

The man nodded to them as another person emerged from the doors. It was a little boy no older than seven. The kid looked scared and passive. He didn't talk at all. He just sat on the step. Allensworth walked over to the boy and pulled out a candy bar that he had gotten from the portable replicator earlier that day. He knelt down and gave the boy the bar. The kid had trouble opening it, so his father sat down next to him and opened it for him. The kid took bites out of the candy bar and seemed to enjoy it. A smile appeared on the young ones face as Allensworth just stared at the boy. To him the boy was so innocent and he couldn't imagine anyone wanting to hurt this child or anyone on this planet for that matter.

"It's pretty good, isn't it?" He asked.

The boy smiled and nodded.

The next day the crew of the Alexandria marched into another town. This town looked deserted. They rushed into the small village that only consisted of about twenty or thirty houses. They ran up to walls of buildings and peered around corners. Once they deemed it was safe to go further, they proceeded. They separated into groups and held positions behind different structures. Lieutenant McKenzie ran up a few feet ahead of her group. She ducked down behind a support beam made of bricks. She looked around and saw something not right about a pile of hay. She looked more closely and saw that it had a unique shape to it.

_That looks like an Argo._

More of the Alexandria troops were still getting into their positions. Then McKenzie's fears were realized when the turret of the Argo moved in their direction. It moved out of its hiding spot and fired and behind it were a battalion of troops.

"FALL BACK!" She shouted.

The troops began retreating as the Imperials opened fire. A photon burst, shot from the Argo, slammed into a side of the building, shooting debris everywhere. A few officers were struck by the falling debris and they fell to the ground.

Allensworth was hit by the shockwave but he quickly got up. He looked around and then the ground around him was peppered by phaser beams. A gun mounted on the top of a roof fired at the fleeing Allied forces.

Allensworth sprinted away from the phaser blasts. Suddenly, an explosion erupted just behind Allensworth. He dove forward into a ditch. He looked back to see that the Argo exploded. The driver was dead, hunched over in his seat but the vehicle still moved forward. Commander Sparhawk could see that the Captain was in trouble but couldn't get out from his position without being gunned down. The Imperials were relentless this time. He saw Allensworth try to poke his head up but phaser beams struck the ground just in front of him causing the captain to duck back down.

The rest of the soldiers retreated from the Imperials. They jumped over fences and took cover behind things and returned fire. A group of allied soldiers took cover behind a brick fence and shot back at the Imperials.

Allensworth continued to crawl forward in the ditch trying to get ahead of the Argo. If he held back and waited for the Argo to pass him, then he'd be trapped with a destroyed Argo in front of him and an army of Imperials behind him. He continued on and his pace quickened as the Argo got closer. It was practically on top of him.

Sparhawk continued to watch the Argo get closer and closer to the captain.

"Come on, Captain." He whispered.

The Argo got closer and finally it fell into the ditch.

"CAPTAIN!" Sparhawk yelled as he rose up and relentlessly fired at the Imperials mounted on the roof. "Fall back fall back." He ordered as he continued to fire.

The rest of the soldiers began retreating. Explosions erupted sending a few Alexandria crew members into the air and then slamming them to the ground.

Nearby, Commander Zofchak held his position with a few soldiers. "Ready photon grenades. Stull, ready a photon mortar, ten o'clock. Nail 'em."

Stull set up the mortar and set an orange ball down into the tube. The tube fired and an orange glowing ball that looked like a miniature photon torpedo struck the Imperials stationed on the rooftop.

Commander Merriell peered around a corner and saw an Imperial shooting from a window. He turned around and hoisted a photon cannon onto his shoulder. He took a knee and fired. The window exploded about a second later.

More Argos were coming in firing. Explosions erupted everywhere. The Allied troops were retreating.

"Pull 'em back." Zofchak said as he stood up firing, covering for the retreating crewmembers.

Commander Merriell was joined by a few other crewmembers.

"What are we going to do, Commander?" One of them asked.

Before he could answer he heard a sound coming from above.

"Shit," Merriell said. "Mortar. Let's go."

The small group sprinted away just as their previous position exploded.

More allied soldiers ran from the Imperials. Single phaser beams sliced through the air. One of them sliced through an allied soldier and he dropped to the ground. A few allies were stationed behind a wall. A female ensign in the science division ran past them but then face planted into the ground after a phaser beam struck her in the back. One of the soldiers behind the wall turned the corner and fired at the sniper's position. He ducked behind the wall again only this time he was pulling at the shoulders of his comrades.

"Come on, let's go."

The small group joined the other running soldiers. A few seconds later, the building exploded. Two command division ensigns jumped down into a small ditch and began firing back at the Imperials. A few seconds later, their position exploded.

Now all of the allied troops were retreating. They were taking heavy casualties. They reached the road that led from the town and kept to the ditches to avoid the phaser fire.

Fire and smoke rose from the small town as the Allies retreated. Zofchak and Merriell ran side by side. They saw Commander Sparhawk up ahead.

"Commander," Merriell said. "Where's Captain Allensworth?"

"He's missing. I'm not sure if he's dead or not but an Argo fell into the ditch, where he was positioned."

"What are your orders, sir?" Zofchak asked.

"We'll retreat for now. We'll rest up come nightfall."

The Imperials marched through the town claiming it as their own. As the Imperials marched by one of their destroyed Argos and past a large pipe that ran underneath the road to direct water under it, a set of eyes watched them go by. The eyes got closer to the pipe's opening and he sat there as his enemies marched past him. It was Captain Allensworth.


	6. Alone

Later that night, after it looked like the Imperials had left the area, Allensworth had come out from his position and to a barn directly across from it. He looked around the dark barn and it looked like a safe enough place for the time being. He walked deep into the barn and sat down on a hay stack. He took a quick inventory of what he had, which wasn't a lot. A few photon grenades, a hand phaser and his phaser rifle was all he had. Suddenly, the door to the barn opened and someone entered.

The shadowy figure walked closer to Allensworth. Not sure who it was, Allensworth didn't want to take the chance of it being an Imperial and them finding him. He had to act first. He leapt from the shadows with his hand phaser and slammed the figure to the wall and stuck the beam emitter of the phaser to the person's neck.

Allensworth realized, once they got into the light, that the person was not of the Terran Empire but a Ba'ku. He was an older man in his fifties. The guy was frightened thinking he was going to die. The man apparently didn't know the difference from the Federation forces and the Terran Empire forces. Allensworth couldn't blame him since their uniforms were very similar. Allensworth was just about to pull the phaser away when the door opened to reveal a girl in her late teens standing there. Allensworth stood their wide eyed as he was caught pointing a phaser at a civilian. She didn't look as scared as the man that Jermaine suspected to be her father but scared none the less. He pulled his phaser away and holstered it.

Before he could say anything to them, the noise of troops moving by the barn caused Allensworth to grab both of them and pull them into the shadows with him. He sat down next to the two Ba'ku villagers and then his left shoulder erupted in pain. He tried so hard not to cry out. The man shuffled over to him.

"You're wounded. May I?" He whispered.

Allensworth nodded. He ripped open the uniform's layers to examine the wound. The Captain winced as the man lightly touched the wound. A piece of shrapnel was lodged in his shoulder and it was deep. The man was able to pull the shard out. He then ripped a piece of his own clothing and stuffed it into his wound. Suddenly, there was more commotion from the Imperials outside. Allensworth jumped to his feet and ran to the window. He looked on as Imperial soldiers and an Argo approached the destroyed Argo. The Imperials moved off in different directions. Most of them moved forward but a few of them began walking towards the barn. Allensworth darted back to the two Ba'ku that was in there with him. On his way back, the bandage fell out of the wound.

He grabbed the hands of the two Ba'ku and pulled them to their feet. He led them to the back door and slowly opened it to make sure there was no danger. The man extended his hand to shake Allensworth's to which Jermaine accepted. Then the main doors to the barn opened and Allensworth ducked down with the two Ba'ku. It was too late to get them out now.

A small group of Imperials came walking in talking and laughing. Allensworth crawled up and looked at them from the corner of a wall. They all looked around looking for any hostiles and once they were satisfied there was no one here they began to leave. If they really wanted to find someone in there all they had to do was use their tricorders. Three of the four left and the fourth stayed behind as he was the deepest in the barn out of the group.

He began walking out as well but then stopped when he saw something on the ground. He knelt down and picked it up. Allensworth saw what it was. It was his bandage that had fallen off earlier. He sighed to himself. He was disappointed in himself to allow something stupid like that happen.

Meanwhile, the Ba'ku girl looked on from another position. She was careful not to let the Imperial see her. Allensworth was trying to figure out how to take this guy out without firing a shot. A phaser beam would alert the others. His best bet would be hand to hand combat.

The Imperial stood up and looked around. The Ba'ku man knelt right behind his daughter but accidentally nicked a bucket with his foot as he was backing up. The now alerted Imperial raised his rifle and aimed it to the back of the barn.

"Who's there?" He asked.

The Imperial approached their position and Allensworth decided it was now time to strike so that the Ba'ku would not be harmed. With the Imperial's back turned, Allensworth ran out from his position and ran for his enemy. The Imperial turned around just in time to dodge Allensworth's attack.

He aimed his rifle but it jammed, lucky for Allensworth. He tossed the rifle to the side and pulled his dagger from his sash. Allensworth could easily take this guy out if he fired his phaser but he was then in danger of alerting all the other Imperials in the area. The Imperial thrust at him then took swipes at him. All of this attacks missed Allensworth. Allensworth then tossed his phaser to the Imperial, and because of reflex, he grabbed it out of the air and now it was Allensworth's time to attack. He rushed the soldier and punched him across the face. He then pulled the dagger from his hand and stabbed him in the stomach. The Imperial clinched in pain and again luckily for Allensworth he didn't scream. Allensworth punched him again and the soldier fell to the ground. Allensworth then came down with the dagger and stabbed the Imperial just below the neck.

The Ba'ku girl watched on as Allensworth killed his opponent and gasped. Allensworth looked up a bit wide eyed, wishing that she didn't see that. But he had to do what he had to do regardless of who was watching.

Elsewhere, Doctor Plumley put a blanket over the head of a Lieutenant who succumbed to his wounds. She stood up and sighed at the loss of another officer. She saw a group of officers sitting in a small circle. They looked a bit depressed and she could figure out why of course it didn't take a Bynar to figure that out. They were worried that they had lost their captain.

Amanda knew she wasn't good at talking to people to boost their morale, that was Christine Nycz's job but Nycz wasn't really available at the moment. Plumley approached the group.

"Still no word on the Captain?" She asked just to make sure that was what was wrong. They slowly shook their head. "If there is no body then there isn't anyone dead. Understand me?"

Suddenly, her comm. badge slightly vibrated to signal her that someone was calling her.

"Zofchak to Doctor Plumley."

She tapped it to respond. "Plumley here, go ahead, Commander."

"Please report to my position."

"On my way."

Plumley walked across their temporary camp to where Commander Zofchak was standing. He was with Lieutenant McKenzie, Lieutenant Stull and Commander Merriell and Lieutenant Oliverio. Dustin looked up to see the doctor's approach.

"Now that you're here, Doctor, we can fill you in."

"What's going on?" She asked.

"The six of us are going to look for the Captain. You're coming along in case he's injured."

Plumley nodded. It made plenty of sense to bring her along.

"Wouldn't it make sense for Commander Merriell to lead this?" Oliverio asked.

"Normally, yes since I am the Second officer but this rescue mission is Commander Zofchak's idea and he's leading it."

"Got it." Oliverio said.

"Once ready, we'll depart."

The other five nodded.

Meanwhile, Allensworth pulled the body of the dead Imperial out of sight and covered it in hay. He saw that the two Ba'ku people had left yet.

"You two need to get out of here before you get hurt."

"But…"

"No buts. Please leave. I thank you for your help."

The Ba'ku man nodded before pulling his daughter with him behind the back door. The door closed behind them leave Allensworth by himself.

Commander Sparhawk and Counselor Nycz stood by each other on the hill top as explosions erupted from a nearby Ba'ku village.

"They're bombing the village we were in yesterday." Nycz said.

Sparhawk nodded. "Yeah." He turned around and began walking off. "They won't be waving so many blue flags at us tomorrow."

The next day in the early morning, Allensworth walked out of the barn as if there was no war going on. He saw the aftermath of the battle from the day before. He saw the body of Ensign Whitely. He was fresh out of the academy and promising. He looked around and saw more bodies from his crew. Then he saw six figures appear in front of him. His first reaction was to fire at them but then he realized that it was members of his crew. Once both sides realize who the other was, they ran to each other.

"I'm glad to see you." Allensworth said.

"Not as glad as us." Merriell said.

"Let's head back to base camp." Allensworth said.

"Aye, sir." The six said in unison.

Lieutenant Hoyt and Lieutenant Gorman were standing there talking when Hoyt looked past Gorman and saw seven soldiers approaching.

"Thomas, look."

Gorman looked back and saw the seven officers. A smile appeared on his face. "CAPTAIN!"

Everyone ran to the captain's side glad to see that he was back. Commander Sparhawk and Counselor Nycz approached him.

"Get lost, sir." Sparhawk said with a grin.

"Something like that, Commander." Allensworth said returning the smile.

"Glad to have you back, sir." Christine said.

Multiple crewmembers came up to shake the captain's hand. He was glad to be back among friends and he was sure that they were even more so to have him back.

Allensworth turned to Commander Zofchak. "So Commander, you grouped together the six of you to go on a suicide run to get me?"

"That's right, sir."

"You do realize that that wasn't a too bright of an idea, don't you?"

"Of course, sir. It was something I learned while I was on the Enterprise. That the needs of the many don't always outweigh the needs of the few or the one."

"I take it you're referring to the retrieval of Captain Picard after he was assimilated by the Borg?"

Zofchak nodded.

"We'll save the court martial for later." Allensworth said with a smile.

"Aye, sir."

Allensworth turned to his gathered troops. "All right, let's move out." He ordered.

Allensworth watched as he troops gathered their gear and headed out. He began walking among them as Commander Sparhawk approached him.

"I don't like retreating, Jason." He said.

"First time for everything, sir."


	7. A Quick Battle Before Winter

Captain Allensworth sprinted through an open field with his phaser rifle in hand. There were no other soldiers near him. He breathed heavily as he pumped his legs and hoped that he could go faster. He was almost where he wanted to be. All he could hear was his boots hitting the dirt and his own breathing. He ran up an embankment that led to another field. The first thing he saw when he cleared the embankment was a young Ensign of the Terran Empire. He looked no older than twenty two. He was completely clean shaven and one would think he was still in high school. The soldier was completely frozen and didn't know what to do. He was at the mercy of Captain Allensworth. One second, the young soldier was staring at the Captain, the next he felt a phaser beam rip through his chest and after that; darkness.

Captain Allensworth sat up against a tree with a padd in his hands. He needed to fill out a report Admiral Ross when he got back from this assignment. He entered a few commands and then set the pad in front of him.

"Captain's Log…"

Jermaine Allensworth sat with Commander Sparhawk and Doctor Plumley inside of a barn with a few other crewmembers. They were slightly taking it easy despite their retreat a few days earlier.

"So how are your husband and kids, Doctor?" Allensworth asked.

"They're good. They're still living on Cestus Three. Aoki just started playing softball and the twins are, well, the typical five year olds. They are developing their father's british accent though. It's to be expected since they're with him more often than with me."

"Why don't you keep them on the ship?" Sparhawk asked.

"When I first entered Starfleet, I figured I would keep my family with me. Especially if I was stationed on a Galaxy class but then I heard about an incident on the Enterprise-D that a child by the name of Jeremy Aster was left behind because his mother was killed on an away mission. I didn't want to do that to my children. Plus with the war going on, I don't want anything to happen to them if we were to go into battle."

"Its logical thinking." Jason said. "I wonder what Dustin and Hoshi are going to do when their twins are born."

Before anyone could say anything more, the doors to the barn burst open with Lieutenant Coble being carried in by Lieutenant Statler and Ensign Stallworth.

"Coble, you're going to be okay." Sparhawk said.

They laid him on the table as Doctor Plumley rushed to his side.

"What happened?"

"Photon grenade." Stallworth said.

"Where was it?" Allensworth asked.

"Crossroads."

Allensworth didn't have to ask where that was, there was only one set of crossroads near their position. looked to his first officer. "Jason, assemble me a squad."

"Yes, sir. First squad on your feet."

Shortly later, Allensworth led a squad through a field in the darkness. To their right was a large field and to their left was a hill that led to a road. They silently crept through the area making sure they didn't alert the enemy they were coming. Suddenly, phaser fire erupted and the squad dropped to the ground. The phaser fire wasn't fired at them but to the right of them.

"What are they shooting at?" Sparhawk asked.

"There isn't anything down that direction. Why are they giving away their position?"

Sparhawk shrugged.

"Gotta check it out anyway. Hold here, and wait for my signal."

"Aye, sir."

Allensworth moved up the hill that they were using to give them cover and up to the road that led to the Imperial station. He kept to the ground hoping not to be seen. He ran across the road and saw that it dropped off to another field. He looked around studying the area and situation. Once he was satisfied he crawled back to his squad's field of vision. Once in view, he made multiple hand movements to signal them to move to his position.

The soldiers all moved to Allensworth and then followed him to the field that gave them a near clear view to the Imperial station.

"This is our fall back position here. Photon mortars deploy here." Allensworth whispered. "First squad, on me. Go."

Allensworth got up and ran across the field with four soldiers behind him. They ducked down the closer they got. They got to the threshold of the hill and Allensworth peered over edge at the Imperials. He then moved to his soldiers and told them which one to shoot. They all took aim waiting for the right moment to fire. Each soldier waited in anticipation for the order. Finally, Allensworth fired and they all opened fire.

After enough Imperials fell to the surprise attack, Allensworth turned his back on them. "Fall back."

The soldiers with the mortar fired a photon mortar into the air. An explosion erupted causing the Imperials to become more disarrayed. Allensworth and his group sprinted back to their fall back position as phaser beams sliced through the air past them.

One phaser beam sliced through one soldier.

"Damn, Studdard's down." Sparhawk said.

Allensworth tapped his communicator. "I need more troops. Send Second Division."

They continued to fire into the night.

The following day, Sparhawk and Allensworth laid on their stomachs reading a map.

"We're in a ditch and their on a roadway. They can come across and outflank us as soon as they figure that out."

"How many Imps are we talking?"

"There's a ferry crossing here. It could be a whole battalion for all we know."

"What are your orders?" His first officer asked.

"We got no choice." Allensworth said putting the padd away.

He grabbed his rifle and took off running towards the enemy. The rest of the soldiers looked a bit confused for a moment before taking off after their captain.

Captain Allensworth sprinted through an open field with his phaser rifle in hand. There were no other soldiers near him. He breathed heavily as he pumped his legs and hoped that he could go faster. He was almost where he wanted to be. All he could hear was his boots hitting the dirt and his own breathing. He ran up an embankment that led to another field. The first thing he saw when he cleared the embankment was a young Ensign of the Terran Empire. He looked no older than twenty two. He was completely clean shaven and one would think he was still in high school. The soldier was completely frozen and didn't know what to do. Allensworth fired and took down the soldier. To the fallen Imperial's left was a whole field full of Imperials. Allensworth didn't waste anytime firing into the crowd. Finally, his squad caught up to him and opened fire as well. The Imperials tried either retreating or fighting back. Either way it was useless for them.

Suddenly, the ground started shaking and exploding. The Imperials started launching photon torpedoes from an unseen launcher.

"We've got incoming." Allensworth said. "Take cover."

Suddenly, there was an explosion over the hill and the bombing stopped. Merriell had launched a quantum mortar that took out the torpedo launcher.

Allensworth and his crew finished off the remaining Imperials. Doctor Plumley took care off the injured as the rest secured the area.

Once the area was secure, Allensworth took it upon himself to relax. He squatted down and leaned against a wooden post. Counselor Nycz approached him.

"Are you okay, sir?" She asked.

He nodded. "Twenty wounded and one dead." He said.

"Who?" She asked.

"Studdard."

Christine nodded as she remembered who he was. "Thomas Studdard. He was from the Martian Colony." She then looked out to the field of fallen Imperials. "How many did we take out?"

"About two full companies."

"Two companies? It almost seems that they have a limitless supply of soldiers."

Allensworth nodded in agreement. "Yeah, while ours is decreasing."

"We'll get through this one, Captain." She said as she stood up and patted him on the shoulder.

Later that night, Allensworth sat with Sparhawk and Zofchak looking over a map they got from one of the dead Imperial officers.

"It would appear that there is a patch of Imps in the forest to the north of here."

"That will put us into the colder regions. We should prepare winter uniforms for this one." Sparhawk said.

"Agreed. They've set up camp in the forest just south of the mountains."

"We should call this forest the Ardennes Forest." Zofchak said with a slight grin.

"Why's that?" Sparhawk asked.

"It was where the Battle of the Bulge took place during World War Two."

Getting back to the topic at hand, Allensworth pointed to a town west of the Imperial encampment.

"I'll send a team there and try to flank them while the rest of us take them head on. I'll have Lieutenant Commander Piper lead the team."

The other two nodded.

Later that night, the crew had just gotten their winter gear just in time for the snow to fall. They reached the edge of the forest and did one last check of their equipment. Commander Piper had already left with his squad that consisted of one hundred and sixty seven soldiers. Allensworth looked to all of his troops being very proud of what they've accomplished so far. He looked to the senior officers and swore that he'd get them back to their families and loved ones even if it cost him his own life. Once satisfied that his crew was ready, he turned around to face the forest.

"Let's move out."


	8. Plumley's Day

The snow was falling heavily in the forest. The sight was of absolute beauty according to Doctor Amanda Plumley. She walked through the forest while hearing sounds of phaser fire in the distance. It was only the sight that she only admired. It reminded her of Christmas back home. She hated the cold and right now she was freezing. She wished she could visit the Ba'ku planet more often but her duties as Chief Medical officer aboard the Alexandria were priority. Of course it wasn't like she was getting paid to do it. But she loved helping people. She continued through the forest on her way back to base camp and then stopped and then no longer admired the sight of the forest.

In front of her, officers from the Mirror Universe lied in the snow. All of them were dead. Some looked like they were killed on the spot and others looked like they froze to death. There were about seven or eight soldiers lying there being covered by the falling snow. She turned around and left.

Captain Jermaine Allensworth leaned against a tree with his hands on his phaser rifle and trying to keep warm at the same time. It wasn't really working. He heard a twig snap behind him. He turned and looked and saw nothing. He looked forward again and saw Plumley approaching.

"Plumley, stop." He whispered.

The doctor stopped in her tracks and knelt low to the ground. Allensworth readied himself and motioned for the doctor to follow him. The two of them kept low as they silently moved through the snow. They stopped and Allensworth raised his rifle.

"Thunder."

"Flash."

It was Commander Sparhawk. Allensworth relaxed a bit.

"Damn it, Jason, I about blew your head off." Allensworth said. "I'm glad Dustin came up with this way of figuring out if you're on our side or not."

"Sorry, Captain." He said as he approached.

"What do you have for me?"

"We've been gaining ground in one area but losing it in another. Right now we're at a standoff."

Allensworth didn't look too pleased. "I wonder how Piper's squad is doing."

"I don't know, sir. I hope they break through and put the Imps on their heels."

"You and me both, Jason."

Suddenly, everywhere around them began exploding.

"TAKE COVER!" Allensworth yelled.

Everyone around hit the dirt as the ground exploded.

"MEDIC!" Someone yelled from across the way.

Plumley got up and sprinted to the source of the call. She finally arrived to see a girl in the command division with shrapnel in her left arm. It was Lieutenant Diamato. A medium sized red head from the Martian Colony.

The girl held her arm and closed her eyes tightly.

"It's okay, Lieutenant. Here's something to ease the pain." Amanda said as she placed a hypospray on the girl's neck. Her eyes went from tightly shut to open and she looked as if there was nothing wrong with her. Plumley began to wrap the arm.

While Doctor Plumley was attending to the Lieutenant's wound, another voice cried out for Plumley's attention.

She was done with the Lieutenant's wound anyway so she got up and sprinted to the injured person's position. The injured was an Ensign Lieberman whose leg was peppered with shrapnel.

"I'm going to have to get him to the sanctuary in the village." She tapped her comm. badge. "Plumley to McKenzie."

"Go ahead, Doctor."

"Have one of your men bring an Argo to my position."

"Aye, sir."

Shortly later, an Argo arrived with a gold collared Lieutenant driving. The Lieutenant got out and helped Plumley put the injured Ensign into the vehicle.

Shortly later, the three of them arrived in the village just outside the forest. The inhabitants of the village were willing to help with the injured and provide other supplies if they were needed. Plumley carried the Ensign inside of a building that looked like the town hall. Inside was more wounded. There were probably only fifty or so officers in the building that were being tended to. Then something caught Amanda's eye. It was a little girl no older than ten or eleven running around acting like a medic. The girl had blonde hair that was tied back by bandana. She ran around to the injured asking them questions and giving them something for the pain.

The Ba'ku's methods seemed a bit primitive to the naked eye since they didn't seem to use any technology but the Ba'ku were warp capable and could use technology but they chose against it. They were the Amish of the 24th century.

The little girl saw Doctor Plumley and approached her.

"I can show you a place to put him." She said.

She turned around and Plumley followed carrying Ensign Liberman.

"Put him here."

Plumley hoisted the Ensign onto the table. The little girl examined the wound.

"Multiple lacerations from I'd say a mortar hit."

Plumley was completely caught off guard by this little girl's intelligence.

"That's right. I gave him some Triptacederine for the pain."

The little girl nodded. "Keep him here for a bit and we'll do what we can."

Plumley smiled at the girl and nodded. It was weird for her to be taking orders from anyone other than her superiors let alone a little girl but she obviously knew what she was doing and figured that Liberman was in good hands. At that she turned and headed back to the front lines.

Lieutenant McKenzie was leading a small team into the forest to go "Imp hunting" as some would call it. She arrived just as the squad moved out.

McKenzie and the lead scout Ensign Calloway moved up ahead of the squad. They took cover behind a stack of logs and McKenzie declared it safe to continue.

"Go ahead." She said.

The young Ensign moved forward and shouts came from the far end of the forest. Phaser beams lanced out and one struck Calloway in the neck. He fell to the ground as McKenzie looked on. McKenzie returned fire as she called for the remaining squad. She was joined by Lieutenant Stull and Lieutenant Kadohata.

"What's going on?" Stull asked.

"Calloway is down." McKenzie said.

"We gotta make a move." Stull said.

"I can get him, sir." Kadohata said.

"SUPPRESSING FIRE!" McKenzie yelled.

Stull repeated McKenzie's words to make sure people heard it. Kadohata got low to the ground and readied herself to get her comrade. Calloway's neck wound bled profusely. Blood even started coming out of his mouth as he wiggled around on the ground in pain. McKenzie and the rest of the squad opened fire to get the Imperials to stop firing so Kadohata could pull Calloway to safety.

She tried to move out into the open but phaser beams lashed out right in front of her. She ducked back behind the tree she was using for cover to avoid being hit.

"Don't' move." Kadohata said to Calloway. "Stop moving or they'll keep shooting."

She tried to move forward again but it ended with the same results of phaser beams streaking by her face. She tried once more and more phaser beams came out. It seemed that they had her targeted once she came out into range.

"Stop moving, god damn it." Kadohata said. "They'll keep firing."

Lieutenant Stull stopped firing and ducked down behind cover.

"We gotta pull back." She said.

McKenzie agreed. "FALL BACK!"

Kadohata didn't like the sound of the order but she knew it had to be done. She kept her gaze fixed on Calloway.

"Stay with us, look at me. Don't move, we're coming back."

At that she got up and retreated. Calloway's last images were those of his retreating comrades.

Doctor Plumley waited patiently as the team sprinted back to their camp. A shot rang out and dug into a soldier's back. The officer fell and face planted into the dirt. McKenzie and Stull reached down and grabbed her and kept going. Plumley ran forward to assist them. She pulled out her medical kit and began to help the wounded officer.

Commander Sparhawk came running up.

"Report."

"They got Calloway, sir." McKenzie said.

"He's still alive, we have to go get him, sir." Kadohata said.

"We don't know that." Stull said.

"Fall back." Sparhawk ordered.

The team continued to fall back.

Shortly later, McKenzie approached Captain Allensworth.

"We couldn't get to him, sir. We tried but we just couldn't do it."

Allensworth didn't say anything, he just nodded and McKenzie walked away. Doctor Plumley looked on as the crew's morale began to falter.

Counselor Nycz approached Kadohata who was being held by another officer. The Counselor knew that losing Calloway was hard on her.

"How are you doing, Tryssa?"

She didn't say anything.

"I promised him, if he got hit, I'd bring his belongings to his mother. Now those Imps will strip him and rob him of everything including his dignity. We should've gotten to him."

She couldn't anything more because tears began to swell up in her eyes and she dug her face into her comrade's body and wept.

The next day Doctor Plumley arrived in the village with another wounded officer. The same little girl from before ran up to show her where to put her. This officer was in a bit more critical condition than the other. Blood ran freely from the soldier's stomach wound. As Plumley worked on the officer, the little girl applied bandages and cleaned the blood away. Plumley worked on the wound to find the artery, the little girl notice the female officer had stopped moving. She looked up and saw that her eyes stared off into nothingness. The little girl's body eased up as she realized the woman had died. Plumley hadn't noticed yet but felt the eyes of the young girl on her and she looked at her. Her gaze then shifted to her comrade's face and saw the same thing that the little girl did.

Anger built up inside of Amanda as she slammed the bandages down on the ground.

"Damn it!" She said.

Lieutenant Commander Zofchak, Lieutenant Commander Merriell and Counselor Nycz stood behind a pile of fallen trees keeping an eye on the lines. The temperature had dropped tremendously and regardless of the winter gear they wore, they were still freezing.

"Now I know how they felt." Zofchak said.

"Who?" Nycz asked.

"The people who were stationed in the Ardennes Forest watching the Huns, Goths, Vizigoths sweep through there on their way to Rome to burn it down. Hell, even the soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Bulge."

Christine nodded in acknowledgment.

Suddenly, phaser fire erupted from the trees. An Ensign was hit in the chest. The beam sliced right through him.

"MEDIC!"

Plumley came running out of no where to the Ensign's side. She was joined by another officer that she couldn't think of his name at the moment. Her mind was racing too fast for her to think of such a detail.

"Here they come." Someone said.

Plumley looked back to see Imperial Argo's emerge from the trees along with troops.

She looked back at the officer at her side.

"I've got him, go." She said.

The officer ran back to the lines raising his rifle to fire. The battle site got intense quickly. Plumley wrapped up the soldier as Commander Zofchak came running over.

"We've got to get the hell out of here." He said.

The injured Ensign's head began to drop. Zofchak smacked him on the cheek.

"Stay with us." He said.

Once ready, the two officers pulled the injured Ensign off the immediate front lines. They loaded him up into a nearby Argo and Plumley took him to the Ba'ku village.

While they were entering the village, explosions erupted everywhere.

"Quantum Mortars." Plumley said.

They reached the place that housed all the injured soldiers and it hadn't been hit. A wave of relief fell over Plumley. That was until the place exploded. Windows shattered and doors were blown from their hinges if not completely destroyed. The whole village was a disaster area. Plumley ran to building as a few people emerged but that was it. She saw a pile of debris just inside the door.

She slowly approached it and then saw something that completely horrified her. She knelt down and picked up the blue bandana that the little girl was wearing. She gripped it tightly in her hand and let a tear escape from her eye as the destruction continued. She put the bandana into her pocket and left.


	9. Incoming

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 57982.4. By some religions on Earth today is Christmas. We have been on the Ba'ku world for a few weeks but it seems like a few months. Especially, since we dealt with warmer temperatures when we got here and now the more cold harsher temperatures now. Although, it's rather fitting weather for Christmas. We held the line just outside of the village of Kurodani and now we're pushing the Imperials even further back. The cold temps have taken a toll on the crew but they are still performing their duties. Before we entered the forest, I sent Lieutenant Commander Piper, with a squad of soldiers, to flank the Imperials. We have not yet heard from Piper or anyone from their squad. During our trek through the forest, we encountered sporadic Imperial phaser fire and suffered a few casualties but for the most part met little resistance. Eventually, we'll run into the Imperials in the village of Ichinisan at the base of the mountain._

The soldiers camped out once nightfall came around. Commander Sparhawk sat with Lieutenant Commander Merriell and Lieutenant Stull.

"How you guys holdin' up?" Sparhawk asked.

"We're good, sir. Just freezing." Stull said.

"Well, huddle together." Sparhawk said.

That comment caught the two of them off guard.

"What?" They both said in unison.

"Don't try and deny it. I've seen the way you two are together. You're no different than when Dustin and Hoshi began their relationship. You're not fooling anyone."

The two of them smiled.

"I suppose we're not, sir." Stull said.

Sparhawk smiled as he stood up from his kneeling position. "As you were."

He turned around and walked off. He saw Lieutenant Commander Zofchak leaning against a tree with a padd in his hands. He approached him.

"Are you doing okay, Commander?" Sparhawk asked.

"I'm good, sir. I'm just writing my will to Hoshi just in case something happens."

"Nothing is going to happen, Dustin. You're going to get through this and you will be reunited with Hoshi. That's what I like to think when I feel like I can't make it. I tell myself that I will see April again."

"I wish I had your confidence, sir. When we started this campaign, we had about six hundred crewmembers on the planet. We've lost about two hundred in a few weeks of being here. And our crew is down to less three hundred with the group that Commander Piper took with him. I guess I'm doing this as a just in case thing."

Jason put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You'll make it, Dustin. I promise you that."

Dustin smiled and nodded to the first officer.

The next day, the crew was marching toward the Imperial held village of Ichinisan. Commander Sparhawk knelt down and surveyed the area with a pair of binoculars. He could see the Imperials moving around to get ready for the Federation assault.

Allensworth, Sparhawk, Merriell and Zofchak all stood in a circle going over the plan.

"We hold position here. We are not going to fall back. Is that understood?" Allensworth said.

The other three nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good, let's get the crew ready."

Shortly later, Sparhawk walked through the area occasionally looking at the village to see if he could see what the Imperials were up to. He didn't see anything. He turned back to face his own line when he heard a large boom.

He slightly flinched and yelled. "INCOMING!"

The area all around them began to explode. The crew began to scatter.

"TAKE COVER!" Allensworth said running through the area. He repeated his orders as he sprinted past crew members.

It was hard to take cover from photon mortars. One could never exactly guess where it was going to land. Lieutenant Brown sprinted through the area just as a mortar exploded behind him. He fell to the ground. He wasn't hit but just had lost his footing. He got back up just as a mortar exploded in front of him. He looked around and then after a few breaths he tried to sit up. Pain erupted from his right leg. He saw that his left leg was still there but his right leg had been blown off just above the knee.

"I gotta get up." He said as tears began to well up in his eyes. "I gotta get up." He said again. He tried to push himself to get up but he couldn't. Now the tears were streaming down his face as he tried desperately to stand.

Another Lieutenant by the name of Evans came over to help his friend. He knelt down and began to pull Brown away from the scene. "Come on, buddy I got ya."

Then the two heard another warning. "INCOMING!"

That was Commander Zofchak's voice. Explosions erupted everywhere and more frequently than the first barrage. Sparhawk saw Brown and Evans and yelled for them to hurry up. An explosion erupted a few feet from Sparhawk's position knocking him back. Another made Evans lose his footing and both he and Brown fell. Then another explosion came from their position. After that the explosions stopped.

Sparhawk got to his feet and saw that both Evans and Brown were lying still.

"MEDIC!"

The crew had regained their composure by nightfall. People did their best to stay alert against these trigger happy Imperials.

"So have you and Hoshi figured out a name for the twins?" Stull asked.

"No but I'm leaning towards something Japanese though. The twins are going to be half Japanese so I figure why not give them Japanese names." Zofchak said.

Another explosion erupted nearby.

"INCOMING!" Zofchak yelled.

He and Lieutenant Stull scattered to take cover. This was the third time today that the Imperials bombed them. One explosion knocked Merriell off his feet. He got back up and started running but slipped again because of the snow and his haste to get to safety. It was hard to find safety in this area of no safe areas.

Lieutenants Bellasari and Germaine stood behind some trees yelling for the Lieutenant Commander to hurry up and get to them. They called out his name repeatedly hoping that he wouldn't get hit before getting to them. Merriell saw them as he crawled across the ground trying to regain his footing so that he could stand up and run. Then right before his eyes, Bellasari and Germaine were vaporized into nothingness by a photon mortar landing on their position.

Counselor Nycz was nearby and grabbed Commander Merriell and they ran away from the explosions. They took cover behind some fallen trees as the explosions continued to erupt all around them. Suddenly, something struck the ground directly in front of them. It was a photon mortar that hadn't exploded on impact. The two officers, stricken with fear, just stared at it waiting for it to go off but it didn't.

The next day, the officers recovered from the bombing. They had lost a total of twenty-seven officers in the three bombings the previous day.

_Counselor's Log: The barrages on stardate 57068 marked the low point in the campaign for many of the crew. I knew that the barrages on that date and the pressure we've been under since we've arrived here could take their toll in other ways. I was afraid the crew would lose focus and suffer a drop in morale and that was dangerous, especially in combat. _

Counselor Nycz walked amongst the crew making sure they were doing all right mentally. She start up small conversations with them as she passed them asking about their families and other things that interested them. It was the job as ship's counselor.

Meanwhile, Commander Sparhawk and Lieutenant McKenzie stood in a trench with binoculars looking at the village that housed the Imperials. They watched the Imperials take position. Captain Allensworth shortly joined them.

"You've got about two hundred meters of open field before you reach the perimeter of the village. You've got very little cover so you have to move quickly. You have to get in there before they start bringing mortars down on your position. I've had enough of their mortars for a lifetime. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Sparhawk said.

"Move out."

Shortly later, Sparhawk led a large squad into the open field heading for the village of Ichinisan. The soldiers who didn't go with the Commander set up covering fire. Imperial snipers took down multiple Alexandria crewmembers. Explosions began to erupt all around them as they approached the village.

They reached the outskirts and took cover behind anything they could.

"I want someone to bomb that building where the snipers are." Sparhawk said.

Van Zandt knelt down with a photon launcher and fired. The building exploded and now with the snipers out of the way they could continue. Sparhawk and his team sprinted directly into the village. Sparhawk ran into the village while others took cover. Zofchak looked on as the first officer ran.

"They're not even firing at him." He said.

"They're probably dumbfounded at the idea of him doing that." Merriell said behind him.

Shortly later, the battle was over and the crew of the Alexandria was victorious. They had taken about thirty prisoners.

Allensworth stood with Commander Sparhawk going over what was next. They felt relaxed because they were out of the forest and had accomplished the task of taking Ichinisan.

"Good job, Commander." Allensworth said.

"Thank you, sir."

"What's next?" Zofchak asked walking up to them.

"Well…" Allensworth stopped, his eyes wide.

The two officers turned around to see what the captain was staring at and then they too stared in horror. A group of Alexandria crewmembers limped towards their position. They all had been stripped of weapons and most of their winter gear. All they were wearing were their normal duty uniforms but even they were a bit tattered. None of them had communicators.

"MEDIC!" Allensworth called as he, Sparhawk and Zofchak sprinted to the group.

Leading the way was Ensign Olivia James. Allensworth approached her and put his jacket over her. Everyone else did the same for anyone who needed it.

"What happened?" He asked. "Where's Commander Piper?"

"Dead, sir. We went around flanking the Imps but we were ambushed. We were outgunned and Piper announced our surrender. They stripped us of our weapons and winter gear and then led us to a field. After standing around, they suddenly opened fire on us. Most of us fled but there were a lot more than this we ran. They gunned down everyone else. It was a massacre."

Allensworth lowered his head and sighed.

Lieutenant Spiers walked off after giving his coat to another Lieutenant. He walked across the village where the prisoners were being held. Van Zandt was watching the prisoners.

"I got it, Ensign."

"Yes, sir." He said walking off.

Once Van Zandt was out of sight, Spiers walked over to one of the portable replicators and replicated multiple cups of coffee. He then handed one to each of the prisoners. Each of the prisoners looked a bit relieved as they drank. He then aimed his phaser rifle and opened fire, killing every single one of the prisoners.

Van Zandt turned around thinking he heard phaser fire, more like knowing he heard phaser fire.

"Oh shit."

Hoshi Sato walked through the corridors of Starbase 12 on her way to her temporary quarters. Suddenly, the Starbase shook and the red alert klaxon sounded.

"All ships evacuate, immediately. We are under attack." A voice said over the intercom. It was Admiral Dowler's voice.

Hoshi turned around and headed directly for the Alexandria.

Moments later, she arrived on the bridge of the Sovereign class ship.

"Helm, get us out of the space dock."

"Aye, sir." Horodyski said.

The ship moved from its position and headed for the doors. The Nebula class ship, Finland was in front of them and was emerging through the doors. Suddenly, the ship exploded.

"They're firing on any ship that leaves the starbase." Hoshi said.

"We're sitting ducks." Skundrich said.

"Horodyski, ahead full impulse. We're going to speed through those doors. Talbot, raise shields and arm weapons."

"Aye, sir."

The Alexandria shot through the doors and was out in open space.

"How many ships?"

"One."

"One?"

"Yes, sir. And it's a Borg cube."


	10. Evacuating the Starbase

The senior officers stood inside one of the houses having a meeting. They sat around a table as if they were sitting in the observation lounge on the Alexandria .

"We've got to end this thing soon or else there isn't going to be anyone left to pick up." Sparhawk said.

Allensworth's gaze shifted to Counselor Nycz who began to speak up. "We have roughly three hundred crewmembers left. We cannot go much longer taking the casualties that we've been taking. Crew morale is a bit steady but it will probably start declining if we don't get out of here or finish this now."

"We need to figure out where their main headquarters is and we take it out." McKenzie said. "That was our mission, to drive them out. If we don't then all of those we've lost would be for nothing."

Allensworth knew she was right. What would've been the point of half their crew dying if they pulled out now?

"McKenzie, Stull, search the prisoners and see if they have any maps at all where their main base of operations is located. Merriell, Zofchak, get a message out to the Alexandria. We're going home."

The Alexandria swerved around avoiding the debris of other ships to get closer to the Borg cube.

"Talbot, transphasic torpedoes." Hoshi said.

"Ready, sir."

"Fire."

The Sovereign class starship launched four transphasic torpedoes. The cube quickly moved and avoided the torpedoes. It moved in a way that Borg cubes don't normally move.

"I'm not too much of an expert on the Borg, but usually their ships don't move like this." Skundrich said.

They had fired their normal weapons but their weapons were absorbed by the shields. Now it moved to avoid the transphasic torpedoes. The Borg cube fired and its weapons slammed into the already depleted shields of the Alexandria.

"Shields are down." Talbot said.

Suddenly, the sound of a transporter beam filled the air on the bridge. They had boarded the ship, only it wasn't the Borg. It was an away team from the Terran Empire. Talbot quickly drew his phaser and vaporized one of the intruders. That left three more. Hoshi ducked behind a chair as she drew her phaser and fired. Horodyski and Skundrich also took cover.

"They aren't the Borg. They were from the Empire." Horodyski said.

"What the hell is going on?" Sato asked as she fired from her position.

The fire fight didn't last long. In fact it only lasted a few moments. The officers came from their hiding places and resumed their stations.

"Looks like they defeated the Borg in their universe too." Talbot said.

"We might be able to learn a thing or two." Skundrich said.

"Hold your tongue, Lieutenant. We don't need to learn anything from those savages." Hoshi said. She stood up and tapped her comm. badge.

"Bridge to Engineering, report."

"Malkin here, sir. We had some intruders and suffered two casualties but we took care of them."

"Did they do anything to the systems down there?"

"No, sir. They didn't have time."

"Acknowledged. Bridge, out."

"Skundrich, did you read anything about their shields dropping when they beamed over?"

"No, sir."

Hoshi remained silent for a moment as the ship still maneuvered around their enemy's attacks.

"I have an idea. Talbot, arm five transphasic torpedoes and then beam them into five different locations on that ship."

"Aye, sir."

Crewmembers of the Empire claimed Borg cube walked through its corridors doing various tasks. Suddenly, a transporter beam appeared allowing a transphasic torpedo to materialize.

"What the hell?" A crewmember asked.

"It's a torpedo. Quick, we have to disarm it before…"

The crew member didn't have time to explain before the torpedo, along with its four brothers, exploded engulfing the ship.

"Good…"

Before Hoshi could finish her sentence a beeping came from ops.

"Sir, the explosion caused a level twelve shockwave. It'll reach the starbase in four minutes fifty-two seconds." Skundrich said.

"That doesn't make any sense. Hail the starbase."

A moment later, Admiral Dowler's face was on the screen.

"Admiral, there's a level twelve shockwave heading for the starbase that will destroy everything in the system."

"We're evacuating the station."

"We'll help out by beaming out as many as we can."

Admiral Dowler nodded and then the screen switched off.

"Transporter room, beam as many people as you can from the starbase."

"I'm on it, sir."

A few ships were able to leave the starbase and the remaining ships from the battle with the Terran Empire taken Borg cube also beamed people aboard.

The shockwave was almost to the starbase when the intercom kicked on.

"The last of the starbase crew have evacuated." The transporter chief said.

"Helm, warp one. Engage."

The nacelles flashed sending the Alexandria into warp and out of harm's way. The shockwave slammed into Starbase 12. The starbase was being ripped apart by the shockwave and ultimately nothing remained. The departing starships easily escaped the slow moving shockwave that would dissipate after awhile.

Lieutenatn Spiers stood at attention in front of Captain Allensworth, who wasn't in a very pleasant mood.

"Unacceptable. What were you thinking, Lieutenant?"

"This is war…"

"I did not give you permission to speak, Lieutenant. I understand that this is war and things will happen but not here. You acted just like them. They were prisoners of war, not cattle ready for the slaughter." Allensworth stood eye to eye with Spiers and lowered the tone of his voice. "Look, I know you were friends with some of the people we lost in that group. I was their superior officer who sent them on that mission. When I found out about what happened I wanted to destroy the Terran Empire for what they did but I controlled my actions because I did not want to become like them. You must control your actions during the course of this war, Lieutenant. Because if you don't, then you could get a lot of people killed."

Spiers looked like he understood Allensworth and where he was coming from.

"Dismissed."

Lieutenant Spiers turned and left. Just as he walked out the door, Counselor Nycz came rushing in. She looked distressed.

"What is it, Counselor?" Allensworth asked.

"Captain, Commander Sparhawk is gone."


	11. Search and Rescue

Commander Sparhawk awoke in a place unfamiliar to him. He attempted to move but then realized that he couldn't do to the fact that he was tied up. There was a wooden pole stuck between his arms so he couldn't move and to add insult to injury he was hanging from the ceiling. Aside from him just hanging around a dull pain covered the right side of his head. He gritted his teeth as he dealt with it.

A door opened behind him and a few people walked into the room. They were all soldiers of the Empire. Then someone wearing Admiral pips came into view. It was the mirror version of Admiral Janeway.

"Commander Sparhawk." She said. "I'm thrilled that you could join us."

"I bet you are." He snapped.

"As you are aware, your forces do not have the numbers to completely defeat the forces of the Empire." Sparhawk remained silent as the mirror Janeway went on. "This will be a decisive victory for the Empire leaving your Federation without one of its better crews. We've killed half of your crew and I'm currently planning to send more troops to annihilate them. However, they appeared to have moved from their previous position and can't seem to find them. Where are they?"

Sparhawk still didn't say anything. Janeway became inpatient.

"What is it your Borg friends say? Resistance is futile. Where are they?" She repeated.

"You had no trouble finding me so go find them yourself. And when you do find them and you're looking down the barrel of Captain Allensworth's phaser rifle…"

Sparhawk was cut off by Janeway's backhand.

"Fine, if you don't want the easy way, then I'll do it the hard way."

She walked over to one of the guards and pulled the agonizer from his belt. She walked back to the front of Sparhawk and showed it to him.

"This is quite a handy little device. It's called an agonizer. It's the portable version of the agony booth. Everyone has one except the commanding officer that is. Well, instead of me going on and on, I'll just show you."

She pressed it against his abdomen and he winced in pain. After a few seconds she pulled it away.

"That was just setting one. We'll try a higher setting."

This one was much higher and Sparhawk's screams could be heard outside of the building.

Hoshi Sato was not feeling well at all today. She came out of the bathroom slowly. She was suffering from morning sickness and it seemed like it was everyday. Her pregnancy was beginning to show. She could still fit into her duty uniform but it would be soon before she would have to switch the maternity uniform. She lied down hoping that the sickness feeling would go away. It did slightly.

Then the intercom kicked on with its usual chime. She knew it was for her and she sighed.

"Commander Sato." Skundrich said.

"What is it?" She said a bit irritable. She was chalking her irritability up to her slight illness.

"Sorry to bother you, Commander but we just received a message from the Ba'ku planet."

So many thoughts raced through her mind ranging from fear and excitement.

"And."

"They request us to return to pick them up."

"Any word if Dustin is okay or not?"

"It was actually him and Commander Merriell that sent the message."

At that moment, it seemed that her sickness left her and a smile spread across her face.

Captain Allensworth sat in the kelbonite caves with his senior officers. The rest of the crew was getting their rest in deeper in the caves.

"I'm leading a small team to rescue Commander Sparhawk." Allensworth said.

"Do we even know where he is?" Plumley asked.

"I had Zofchak and Merriell program the tricorders to pick up Sparhawk's quantum signature. It would stand out from other human signatures that do not belong in this universe."

"How did you come up with that idea?" Nycz asked.

Zofchak stood up. "When I was stationed on the Enterprise, Commander Worf was sent into parallel universes and his quantum signature stood out from everyone else's and were able to figure out which universe he belonged to using a similar technique."

"Once we leave we will activate the tricorders and head for Sparhawk's position. This team will consist of me, Merriell, Plumley, Zofchak, Stull, McKenzie, Allen, Van Zandt, Lipton and Compton. Counselor, you will remain behind and be in command of the crew until my return."

Nycz nodded to her captain. Allensworth looked to his team. "Gear up and move out."

Sparhawk continued to hang in his room. The mirror Janeway had left him alone once she was done torturing him. He had cuts and bruises all over him. He was surprised that she didn't resort to cutting limbs off. He had over heard her saw to someone that most of the troops were moving out and a small group was staying behind. That was about twenty minutes ago and about five minutes later, screaming began. The Imperials were pillaging the Ba'ku village. He wanted to stop them but he couldn't do anything in his current state. He just helplessly hung there.

A few days later, Allensworth's small team moved through the woods following their tricorder to Sparhawk's location. Suddenly, his communicator slightly vibrated to signal its activation.

"Merriell to Allensworth."

"Go ahead, Commander."

"I think you might want to get up here, sir."

"Zofchak, Stull with me."

Allensworth had his team stop and hold position while he and the other two ran up ahead. Seconds later, they appeared next to the third in command.

"What do you have?"

"I'm picking up Commander Sparhawk's quantum signature in the village and a front row seat to the Empire's ethnic cleansing." Merriell said.

Allensworth held up a pair of binoculars and looked in horror. Bodies laid everywhere and Imperial soldiers executed Ba'ku villagers. Multiple phaser blasts were fired from unseen locations and hit unseen targets. Screams shot through the air. A pair of Imperial soldiers dragged a Ba'ku woman into a building.

"How many?"

"I've counted thirteen so far, sir." Merriell said.

"Zofchak, get eyes on them."

"Aye, sir." Zofchak said before darting away.

Allensworth rotated his finger in the air to signal the rest of the squad to come up to their position. Allensworth slung his phaser rifle to his back and pulled out his hand phaser. He pressed a few buttons on it to raise the settings on the weapon. An Imperial soldier threw a man to the ground and aimed a phaser at him. Allensworth tapped his comm. badge.

"Zofchak, do you have the phaser?"

"Yes, sir." He said aiming his phaser rifle at the weapon in the soldier's hand.

"Phaser first, then the soldier. Merriell, Stull, Lipton, Van Zandt, Plumley, flank to the right. The rest of you, on me." Allensworth said as the two teams split ways.

Zofchak aimed his rifle and fired two shots. The first hit the phaser and the second took out the soldier.

Allensworth and his team approached the village from the left and a putrid smell overtook their nostrils. It only took them a second to realize what was causing the stench. It was a pile of bodies of Ba'ku villagers.

"My god." McKenzie said.

They came up on their first opponents from the Empire and took them by surprise. Allensworth fired his hand phaser taking out both of them.

Merriell led the other team into the right side of the village. They heard screaming from one of the buildings. They stood on both sides of the doorway and peered in. It was two Imperial soldiers raping a Ba'ku woman. Merriell looked to Stull. He pointed to his eyes with his index and middle fingers and then held up both fingers signaling that he saw two soldiers in there. They both leapt into the room firing and killing both soldiers. Plumley grabbed a sheet that was nearby and used it to cover the girl who was cowering in a corner once she got free from the soldiers' grasp. She looked thankful at Plumley for their interference.

They left the room and went back outside to find more Imperials. They fired at each other and a little boy was caught in the crossfire and fell face first into the dirt. Plumley saw this and anger filled her body. Filled with rage, she took out the remaining soldiers and then ran to the little boy's side.

"Come on, little guy." She said as she tried to save his life but it was no use. The little boy had succumbed to his wounds.

Sparhawk could hear the phaser blasts and the screams. Suddenly, the door swung open and Lipton and Van Zandt came rushing in.

"Van Zandt to Captain Allensworth. We found Commander Sparhawk."


	12. Saving the Day

Van Zandt and Lipton came out of a building with Commander Sparhawk. The team had regrouped in the middle of the village. Doctor Plumley came out with the rape victim.

"She's the only survivor." Plumley said.

Allensworth sighed. "Let's head back to meet up with the rest of the crew. We'll take her to another village."

Mirror Janeway led her soldiers through the forest. They ran through the day light and darkness without stopping. Their destination was their enemies' position.

Allensworth instantly looked up and pointed his phaser at someone and that someone ended up being Zofchak. He held his hands up in slight confusion. His hands were empty with the exception of a tricorder.

"Captain, I think we have trouble."

"What sort of trouble."

Zofchak held the tricorder so that they both could see it. A dot appeared to show their position and a larger dot appeared to show the enemies' position.

"This is a view of the forest six hours ago. It looks like we're being followed. This was four hours ago." The dot got closer to their dot. "We figure they'd camp for the night and come at us at first light, bad call. This was at two hours ago and then one." The dot was a lot closer now.

"How much time do we have?" Allensworth asked.

"An hour maybe two."

"Did they track using their tricorders?"

Zofchak shook his head. "Merriell and I have been scrambling their signals. The only way they would've found us is if someone is transmitting something like a homing beacon."

They approached Commander Sparhawk.

"Commander, did they inject anything into you or do any surgery on you while they held you captive?" Allensworth asked.

Jason shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of."

Plumley came over and started scanning him with her medical tricorder.

"I'm not picking up any foreign substances in his body. Everything checks out for the most part other than his physical fatigue.

They heard rustling behind them and McKenzie took a kneeling position raising her rifle.

"The Ba'ku woman is running." She said.

"McKenzie." Allensworth said walking to her side.

The Lieutenant led her with her sights and fired. The phaser beam sliced through the woman. The woman dropped and slammed into the ground. Allensworth, Zofchak, Plumley, McKenzie and Stull approached the woman. She coughed up blood and didn't look like she was going to survive her wound.

"Long live the…Empire." She said as she drew her final breath.

"Captain." Plumley said as she scanned the woman. "This woman's quantum signature suggests that she is from the Mirror Universe."

"We were set up." Allensworth said. "We gotta move."

Shortly later, Janeway looked through a pair of binoculars. Through them she saw the body of the Ba'ku woman she used to track the Federation forces. It was a genius idea to mix a Ba'ku soldier from her universe in with the ones from this universe. Too bad they caught on quickly and now Janeway wasn't able to track them. Soldiers of the Empire inspected the body that was now propped up against a tree.

"Don't touch it." Janeway ordered. "It may be a trap."

Suddenly, explosions went off all around them. Zofchak was nearby pressing buttons on his tricorder to set off the explosions. Once he was out of explosives he took off into the forest.

Allensworth and his small team had reached the caves and were reunited with the rest of the crew. Everyone was thankful to have Commander Sparhawk back.

Suddenly, phaser beams struck all around them. Allensworth turned around to see an army of Imperial soldiers advancing on their position.

"Damn, they found us anyway." Allensworth said.

The crew of the Alexandria fought back. Explosions went off all around them as the two forces fired at each other. Soldiers from both sides fell.

Sparhawk lifted his phaser rifle and fired into the crowd of Imperials. Suddenly, he felt a sharp burning pain rip through his right leg. He dropped to the ground clutching his leg that would not respond to his commands. Plumley came running over after witnessing the whole thing and pulled Sparhawk out of harm's way which was practically no where given their current location.

Allensworth noticed that his side was losing. "FALL BACK!" He shouted.

The crew responded as they began to give ground. Allensworth ran over to Plumley and Sparhawk.

"Is he all right, Doctor?"

"He can't move his leg." She responded.

He grabbed his first officer and hoisted Sparhawk over his shoulder and took off running. He wasn't sure where he was going to go but they needed to get out of there. Zofchak, Merriell, Stull and McKenzie remained behind and continued firing at the soldiers. They also gave ground as they fired. If they were going to go out, they were going to take as many as they could with them.

The crew began to back up into a nearby field where grass stood taller than them. The Imperial soldiers were relentless. It seemed there was no end to them while crewmembers of the Alexandria were getting over run. Janeway led the way for the Imperial forces with a hand phaser.

Allensworth ran with Sparhawk on his shoulders when he felt a phaser beam graze his leg. He fell to the ground and dropped Sparhawk. Plumley fired a few shots before ducking down to inspect the damage. Nycz and Merriell also arrived. Zofchak was backing up to their position still firing. Suddenly, a phaser beam slammed into his shoulder and he fell into the tall grass.

The Imperials were gaining ground on them. Zofchak crawled to the captain's position with his one good arm. Merriell ran over and helped him.

"Always getting hurt. You're just trying to get Hoshi to take care of you so that you don't have to take care of her."

Zofchak let out a small painful laugh.

"This may be it guys." Allensworth said. "It's been a pleasure serving with you."

Before anyone could say anything else, a large shadow loomed over the area. Everyone looked up to see the Alexandria in the sky above them. Everyone's eyes went wide.

"Fire." Hoshi said.

The two ends of the phaser array glowed orange and then moved toward each other. Once they met, a phaser beam slammed into ground where the Imperials were. Janeway did her best to get out of the way but like the rest of the Imperials, she was vaporized. The assault by the Alexandria ended quickly. It didn't matter how many ground troops a side had. They were no match for a Sovereign class starship.

Hoshi stood up from the captain's chair. "Transporter room, begin beaming up the crew."

"Aye, sir."


	13. The Finest Crew

Hoshi Sato stood in the transporter room as the senior officers were beamed aboard. They obviously had seen better days. The captain stepped off the transporter pad and smiled at Hoshi.

"Great timing, Commander."

"Thank you, sir."

"I won't keep you any longer from the person you obviously waiting to see." He said with a smile.

He stepped to the side as Dustin walked forward and the two hugged tightly. They even shared a long awaited kiss. Once they broke from the kiss, they realized something.

"Oh sorry, sir." Dustin said. "That was completely unprofessional of us."

"As you were, Commanders." He said before leaving the transporter room.

Shortly later, Captain Allensworth stood in sickbay with the rest of the injured. He looked around to the rest of the injured. Merriell was being treated for cuts and bruises. The same went for Stull and McKenzie. Zofchak was getting his shoulder patched up. The chief engineer was even lightly rubbing Hoshi's slightly enlarged stomach. He smiled at them but his smile faded when he looked over to Commander Sparhawk. He was deeply concerned for his first officer.

Doctor Plumley and some other nurses were handling the Commander. Amanda slowly walked over to the captain with a disheartened look on her face.

"How's Jason?" Jermaine asked.

"He's fine for the most part but…"

"But?"

"He's gonna lose his leg."

Allensworth's heart dropped.

"Damn."

He walked over to Jason who attempted to get up at the sight of his captain.

"As you were, Commander."

Allensworth placed a comforting hand on Jason's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Jason. We should've kept moving."

Jason shook his head. "Sir, this is war and these things happen. We've lost a lot of people these past few weeks and there are families now broken up because of this. It's not even comparable to the loss they've suffered."

Jermaine knew that Jason was right. He still couldn't help feel sorry for him though.

Later that evening, all of the senior officers convened in the observation lounge.

"We suffered a great deal of losses during this campaign. It's over and we completed our mission. There's going to be some changes as far as crewmembers. We have to replace the ones we lost. Commander Sparhawk will be going to Starbase two-three five to undergo physical therapy for his leg. In his absence I'll be temporarily promoting Lieutenant Commander Merriell to the rank of Commander. He'll be second in command until Commander Sparhawk's return."

Sparhawk turned his chair to face Merriell, who was sitting right next to him.

"Congratulations, Commander." Jason said shaking his hand.

"Thank you, sir. I'll keep the chair warm for you until you get back."

"Well, if there is nothing else…"

"Actually, sir, I have something." Zofchak said interrupting him.

"Go ahead, Commander."

Dustin stood up from his seat and walked around the table. Everyone thought he was going to the monitor but that idea went out the window when he stopped next to Hoshi. She swiveled in her chair to face him as he got down on one knee.

"Hoshi Sato, every moment I was on the Ba'ku planet without you, it seemed like I was going to go crazy. The thought of seeing you again kept me going through those rough days. I made a promise of a lifetime to come back to you. You're too important to me to let slip away. I so very much want you to be my wife and to spend the rest of my life with you. Hoshi, will you marry me?"

Hoshi could barely speak. A tear escaped from her eye as she mustered out the words, "Yes, of course I'll marry you."

Dustin pulled a small box from his pocket. After opening it, he placed the ring on her finger. The ring was of emerald and diamond. The jewels were set in a three toned golden metal, artfully intertwining. They both stood up and hugged each other tightly as the rest of the senior staff clapped.

"Planning this long?" Nycz asked.

"To tell the truth, it's been on my mind since we left the ship. We were in a village where I ran into Anij. During our time there, I asked her about it and she had one made for me. I had it beamed to the ship about an hour ago."

"And you even knew my ring size." Hoshi said.

"A good chief engineer knows all the pertinent details about the crew." He said with a smile.

"It's gorgeous." She said admiring it in the light. Dustin stepped forward and took her hand in his.

"I love you." He said.

She didn't reply, just looked up and kissed him.

Once they broke the kiss, they were surrounded by the rest of the senior officers, who were congratulating them.

Allensworth kinda hung back before joining the group. He looked at his senior officers and despite what they just went through and what they're about to go through, he knew they'd be there for each other. They were his family. They'll do whatever it takes to protect each other. Even though ever starship captain tells their crew this but only sometimes it's true but he really believed that this was the best crew in Starfleet.

The End


End file.
